Israel Jails 4, Deports 9 In Anti-terror Plan

August 07, 1985|By Mark Lavie, Special to The Tribune.

JERUSALEM — A strict new Israeli policy to combat anti-Jewish terrorism was used for the first time Tuesday in the jailing of four Arab student leaders on the occupied West Bank and the deportation of nine former Arab prisoners, the Israeli army said.

``We will continue to do whatever we have to do to ensure the safety of our citizens,`` Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin declared in rejecting American criticism of the harsher penalties approved Sunday by the Israeli Cabinet. Seventeen Jews have been killed in a wave of Arab terror in the last 15 months.

Rabin made the remarks in Nablus, the largest Palestinian city on the West Bank, during a tour of the area. He stopped at the site where an Israeli was fatally shot last month.

He said the government would use ``all the means necessary`` to counter terrorism on the West Bank, including administrative detention and

deportation. At the same time, he called on ``responsible elements`` among the Palestinian population to stop the hostilities so that the extreme measures could be curtailed.

Earlier, Israeli military authorities continued to impose administrative detention, which amounts to a six-month prison sentence without trial.

Three student leaders from Al-Najah University in Nablus were arrested in the middle of the night and taken to prison. A fourth was jailed later. A military statement said the four were ``leaders of the Fatah, Popular Front and Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine`` factions at the university. They were charged with incitement to terrorist activity against Israel.

The university was recently closed for two months. Israeli officials contend the school is a center of activity for Palestinian guerrilla groups and has been closed frequently in the past.

Also Tuesday, nine of the 1,150 Arab prisoners released last May were ordered to leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip because they lack residence papers.

One of the nine is Abdel Meguid Radad, who served 17 years in prison before being freed in the prisoner exchange between Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.

Radad is among 31 freed prisoners who do not have residence papers for Israel or the occupied territories. They have been living on the West Bank on the strength of three-week temporary permits, which have been renewed while the military administration checks into the legal status of the 31.

Radad appealed to Israel`s Supreme Court, and one of the justices granted a temporary restraining order against his deportation, giving the government 45 days to show cause why the order should not be revoked.

West Bank military administration officials say 22 of the 31 are on the West Bank. Seven others are said to be in the occupied Gaza Stip; the whereabouts of the other two are unknown. One official said they may have left the country.

The current three-week permits run out Sunday, and the 22 on the West Bank are being told they must leave the country by then. So far, nine have received the deportation notices.

Some of the 22 have no place to go because they have no legal residence papers for Jordan or any other country. The International Red Cross is handling their cases.

In Jerusalem, the new American ambassador, Thomas Pickering, presented his credentials to Israeli President Haim Herzog Tuesday. Talking to reporters later, Pickering repeated a State Department statement opposing Israel`s administrative detention, deportation and the blowing up of houses belonging to West Bank terrorist suspects.

Pickering, whose last posting was as American ambassador in El Salvador, emphasized American support for Israel and the close relations between the two nations, and he declared that no country deserves peace as much as Israel.